he community task force will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29, at the New Hartford Senior High School library.

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he community task force will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29, at the New Hartford Senior High School library.

It was standing room only Tuesday night at the New Hartford school board meeting as parents and teachers teamed up to form a task force for the good of the students.

"For our children, we are concerned not only for their social, emotional and academic well-being, but also for their privacy," said New Hartford mother of two Tracy Moger.

Describing issues with the curriculum of the new Common Core Learning Standards, over-testing and the statewide education database, the group invited the school board to join a community task force comprised of teachers and parents.

The task force will investigate the impact of Common Core, high-stakes testing and the state Education Department reform agenda on New Hartford's schools.

During the day Tuesday, the New Hartford Teachers Association unanimously adopted a moratorium on the state reform agenda including high stakes testing, called for a halt to the implementation of Common Core, asked for a ban on sharing student information and a ban on the use of state test scores to evaluate teachers, said Deborah Dowling, association president and a Ralph Perry Junior High School teacher.

Dowling called on district administrators and board members to join the force.

"It's my hope that once again New Hartford will take a leadership role in assisting in getting what's right for kids," she said.

The task force is a "positive effort" by parents and teachers to work together, said New Hartford parent Jessica McNair.

"We see our efforts as a positive community based effort to be certain that all children's needs are being met in the classroom," said McNair, a Parent Teacher Association member and also in the group Opt Out CNY, which informs the public about high-stakes testing.

"We need to start acting locally," she said. "We need to start asking school leaders to start questioning the leaders of this state."